harry hagopian

A reminder that Ekklesia associate, international lawyer and church consultant Dr Harry Hagopian features in a regular Premier Christian Radio broadcast on the Thursday of the last week of every month.

Recognition of the Armenian genocide does not start with the UK, or the USA and Israel, but rather with Turkey itself. And the past century has shown us how hard it is to wrest recognition from Turkey. Similarly, the creation of a sovereign Palestine does not start with the EU or the Arab league as much as it does with Israel, says Ekklesia associate and regional expert Dr Harry Hagopian. Yet it seems increasingly difficult to get those with most power to accept political truth-telling as an essential component of any attempt to achieve justice, peace and security for peoples involved in long-standing conflicts.

The West has a lot to answer for in terms of its colonial past, influence over the region and propping up of dictators. But this also means that it should have learned much over the years. So can it exercise some humility and apply those lessons intelligently? Ekklesia associate and MENA region expert Dr Harry Hagopian looks behind the horrific killing of Alan Hennings to ask what sustains IS/ISIL and what can be done to marginalise them.

Thinking about how to respond to ISIS/IS, and in view of the perilous realities of Iraq and Syria, have we tended to ignore the increasing tensions in Palestine and the relationship between all these? Regional commentator and Ekklesia associate Dr Harry Hagopian argues that ISIS cannot be dealt with by brute force and must be countered by political solutions that re-enfranchise the peoples of the region.

In his latest podcast for the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales, Ekklesia associate and regional adviser/expert Dr Harry Hagopian looks at the on-going fight to contain and repel IS/ISIS and the pressure on the borders of Iraq, Syria and Turkey. He also updates on moves to bring stability to Libya.

Joseph Stalin once asked an advisor rather perfunctorily, “How many divisions does the Pope have?” Dr Harry Hagopian, Middle East commentator and Ekklesia associate reminds us. Christians are part of the Middle East and North Africa region and their strength need not lie in their physical might alone, he suggests, surveying the implications of some recent interventions.

Operation Protective Edge: here is a new military initiative that has fired up many Israelis, infuriated many Palestinians, left the Arab leaders once more in tatters of nonchalance or fragmentation and challenged the moral fibre of the West in terms of its support or opposition to this campaign. Middle East expert Dr Harry Hagopian looks behind the horror and the headlines from Gaza.

In both Bethlehem and Jerusalem, Pope Francis offered his home in the Vatican as a place for the encounter of prayer. It was a potentially transformative moment. Now that the event is over, and both presidents have re-iterated their desire for peace, what happens next to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict - more so since President Peres completes his term as president of Israel at the end of July? Regional expert and Ekklesia associate Dr Harry Hagopian explores the issues.

Well over two decades ago, one of my favourite university tutors in family law often delighted in reminding me of an expression that Charles Dickens had popularised in Oliver Twist. Was it not Bumble who had professed to Brownlow that the law is an ass - or to be more faithful to 19th century diction, "The law is a ass - a idiot [sic]"?

On 24 April 1915, close to a year into World War I, two hundred Armenian community leaders living in Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul) were rounded up and force-marched into detention by the Ottoman authorities.